Crew of the RMS Titanic
This is a list of crew aboard the [[RMS Titanic|RMS Titanic]] on her disastrous maiden voyage, which ended on 15 April 1912 when she sank after colliding with an iceberg. A name in italics denotes a person who was saved. A person generally referred to by a nickname or middle name is in quotes, while an alias is listed in parentheses. Coding of survivors and victims Each survivor is designated with a lifeboat number/letter. Survivors were rescued from the lifeboats by the [[RMS Carpathia|RMS Carpathia]]. Of the 711 passengers and crew rescued from the RMS Titanic, one passenger died in a lifeboat during the night, and another five died on board the Carpathia and were buried at sea. Several ships sailed to the disaster area to recover victims' bodies. Numbers 324 and 325 were unused, and the six passengers buried at sea by the Carpathia also went unnumbered. The three bodies recovered by the [[RMS Oceanic (1899)|RMS Oceanic]], numbers 331, 332 and 333, were occupants of Collapsible A, which was swamped in the last moments of the sinking. Several people managed to reach the boat, although some died during the night. When Fifth Officer Harold Lowe rescued the survivors of Collapsible A, he left three bodies in the boat: Thomas Beattie, a first-class passenger, and two crew members, a fireman and a seaman. Collapsible A, with the three bodies still inside, was discovered over 200 miles from the site of the sinking by the Oceanic about a month later."TITANIC – A Voyage of Discovery" Superscript letters, next to the body number, indicate the recovery vessel that picked up the body. Upon recovery, the bodies of 209 identified and unidentified victims of the sinking were brought back to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Of those, 59 were repatriated, 121 were taken to the non-denominational Fairview Lawn Cemetery; 19 were buried in the Roman Catholic Mount Olivet Cemetery, and ten were taken to the Jewish Baron de Hirsch Cemetery. The bodies of the remaining recovered victims were either delivered to family members or buried at sea. The crew member perished The crew member survived It should be noted that the "Hometown" field may be misleading. Many crew had secondary or temporary addresses in Southampton, which they gave when signing the crew list, and others may have only recently relocated there. In particular, the number of crew from Merseyside is understated. For example, Chief Engineer Joseph Bell and Chief Steward Andrew Latimer lived with their families in the Liverpool area. Dr. Alan Scarth in his book Titanic and Liverpool identifies 115 crew members with close connections to the city, of whom only 28 survived. Ship's officers Deck crew The Titanic employed one Able Officer, also known as a Bosun or Boatswain, who had seniority over all the un-licensed deck crew. They helped Thomas Andrews in his daily inspections around the ship. They also had worked for the White Star Line for many years. The Able Officer also did most of the same things that the Able Bodied Seamen did. The Titanic also employed 29 Able Bodied Seamen (ABS), who had gone through additional training and usually had seniority over other crew members. They carried out the day-to-day operation of the ship. Furthermore they were trained to operate the lifeboat davits and man the lifeboats themselves. Each ABS was assigned to a lifeboat and would be in charge of that boat if there was no officer present. About eight seamen were lost when they went below decks to open the E Deck gangway when they were apparently trapped below and nearly all of the others departed in the first lifeboats to be launched. As a result, the later lifeboats had a shortage of trained seamen to man them. So instead, a few stokers and even victualling stewards (some of which had no experience with lifeboats) were ordered to man the launching and rowing of the boats. The Titanic also employed two Boatswain Mates. They were experienced seamen that managed the deck lines, deck cranes, winches, lifeboard davits, etc. on the deck. The Titanic had two Master-at-Arms. They and the Chief Officer had the only keys to the firearms cabinet. Seven quartermasters were employed on the Titanic (all of whom survived). They were highly trained seamen who worked on and around the bridge to steer the ship (helmsman), manage signal flags and to stand watch on the bridge to assist the Duty Officer with general navigation. Six lookouts were employed on the Titanic (all of whom survived). They were able bodied seamen who worked two to a shift in the crow's nest, working shifts of only two hours at a time because of extremely cold winds which they were exposed to in the open crow's nest. The lookouts were normally supplied with binoculars to aid them in seeing over long distances, but on the maiden voyage they were unavailable due to being locked away; the key necessary to retrieve them was not on board. With the air temperature at , and a 20-mile-per-hour headwind, it is a matter of speculation as to how reliable the binoculars would have been if they had been available. Engineering crew The engineers were responsible for keeping the engines, generators, and other mechanical equipment on the Titanic running. They were the highest paid of the crew and had the education and technical expertise to operate, maintain, and repair the engineering plant. All 25 engineers as well as the 10 electricians and boilermakers were lost for most (if not all) of them remained below decks in the engine and boiler rooms fighting a losing battle to keep the ship afloat by operating the pumps in the forward compartments as well as keeping the steam up in the boiler rooms and kept the generators running to maintain power and lights throughout the Titanic up until two minutes before the ship sank. It is speculated that their actions delayed the sinking for over an hour and helped keep the ship afloat for nearly all the lifeboats to be launched. Shortly after leaving Southampton, a fire was discovered in the coal bunker of No 6 Boiler Room. For a number of days, coal trimmers were detailed to trace the source of the fire and extinguish it. On the night of 14 April, the Second Engineering Officer, James (John) Hesketh – the senior engineer on duty, and Leading Fireman Fred Barrett were in No 6 Boiler inspecting the coal bunker and confirming the fire was out when the Titanic struck the iceberg at 11.40 pm. It ripped this part of the ship and the pair escaped through the connecting tunnel to No 5 Boiler Room, closing the bulkhead doors. Barrett later gave evidence at the Southampton Enquiry. There were 13 leading firemen (Stoker Foremen) and 163 firemen (Stokers) assigned to the Titanic. The ship had 29 boilers, each containing three furnaces for a total of 159 furnaces. Each fireman was assigned one boiler and three furnaces. Of the Titanic's six boiler rooms, each leading fireman was assigned to two of them with 10 to 15 firemen under him. Next to each boiler was a coal chute that deposited coal from the overhead coal bunkers, and a fireman with a shovel would constantly feed coal into the three furnaces. Shifts for all the firemen and their foremen were four hours on and eight hours off. The heat in the boiler rooms usually exceeded , so a four-hour shift was very demanding. Most of the firemen worked wearing only their undershirts and shorts. Of the firemen, only three leading firemen and around 45 other firemen survived. Several of the firemen that survived got into the lifeboats dressed only in their undershirts and shorts in weather. There were 73 trimmers, or coal trimmers, on the Titanic, and around 20 survived. Of the engineering crew, the trimmers were paid the least and had probably the worst job of the crew. The trimmers worked inside the coal bunkers located on top of and between the boilers. The trimmers used shovels and wheelbarrows to move coal around the bunker to keep the coal level, and to shovel the coal down the coal chute to the firemen below to shovel it into the furnaces. If too much coal built up on one side of a coal bunker, the ship would actually list to that side. All the residual heat from the boilers rose up into the coal bunkers, and inside, the bunkers were poorly lighted, full of coal dust, and extreme heat from the boilers. There were 33 men employed as greasers. They worked in the turbine and reciprocating engine rooms alongside the engineers and they were responsible for maintaining and supplying oil and lubricants for all the mechanical equipment. Only four of them survived. Also of note, six men were employed as mess hall stewards in the crew's kitchen to cook and serve food for the crew; four to serve the engineering crew, two to serve the deck crew. Just one steward from engineering survived. A memorial to the 244 engineers, firemen, trimmers, and greasers who lost their lives during the sinking of the Titanic is located in the ships port of registry, Liverpool. It is named the Memorial to the Engine Room Heroes of the Titanic. There is also a memorial to the Titanic Engineers in Southampton, from where many of the crew members came. Victualling crew There were 421 men and women assigned to the Victualling Department on the Titanic. Of those, 322 were stewards who performed over 57 different functions in each class's dining saloon, public rooms, cabins and recreational facilities. Around 60 of them survived. Stewards were what are today referred to as waiters, waitresses, maids, attendants, etc. Bath Stewards were responsible for maintaining supplies in the communal bathrooms utilised by everyone except for a few First Class Passengers. Bedroom Stewards were assigned to each class, the First Class Bedroom stewards not only cleaned the rooms and made beds, but were also available to serve food in the rooms or help the passengers in getting dressed. Most stewards were poorly paid and relied on tips for their income. Each First Class Bedroom Steward was responsible for three to five rooms, Second Class Stewards for up to 10 rooms, and Third Class Stewards for as many as 25. The Glory-Hole Stewards' function was to clean and maintain the common toilets in First, Second, and Third Class, and crew areas. Linen Stewards were responsible for washing and maintaining all the linen on board (bed sheets, bathroom towels, table linen, etc.). There were 23 female crew on board: 20 stewardesses, 2 cashiers, and one "matron" (all but three of them survived). The stewardesses' duties were similar to the male stewards, and usually served women passengers. Of the Victualling crew, 62 were employed as Galley and Kitchen staff (around 13 survived). They were chefs, cooks, bakers, butchers, and scullions who worked in the kitchens of each class to cook the various meals for the passengers. Scullions, called dishwashers today, were responsible for washing and drying the dishes. Additionally there were four Clerks employed in the Purser's Office to deal with passenger's enquiries and requests (including depositing valuables for safekeeping). The two radio operators, who were actually employed by the Marconi Company and not directly by the White Star Line, were also assigned to the Victualling Department, possibly because at the time radio communication was seen principally as a service rather than as an essential part of the ship's operation. The Purser supervised all of the Victualling Department, and was the direct link between passengers and the ship's officers. Restaurant staff The à la Carte Restaurant was located on B Deck just below the fourth funnel. It was a private concession managed by A.P. Luigi Gatti, an Italian businessman who owned two other restaurants in London, as well as the à la Carte Restaurant on the Olympic. The restaurant was open from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm and was open only to First Class passengers. The staff were not paid by the White Star Line, but by Mr. Gatti himself, who was on the Titanic for its maiden voyage. The restaurant was self-sufficient with its own cooks, waiters, clean up crew and other staff. Most of the employees were Italian or French nationals. Of the entire staff of 66 people, only one male clerk and two female cashiers survived. Several Titanic survivors indicated that the restaurant employees were locked up in their quarters by the stewards to prevent them from rushing the lifeboats. It has never been confirmed whether this was true or not. Postal clerks The Titanic's five postal clerks—two British, three American—were charged with the supervision and processing of all incoming and outgoing mail on board the ship. On the night of the disaster, the five postal clerks were celebrating Oscar Woody’s forty-fourth birthday. After the ship hit the iceberg, Jago Smith was sent to report to Captain Smith on the mailroom's conditions, confirming the knowledge that the ship was sinking. The five clerks set themselves to the task of attempting to save the 200 registered mail sacks by hauling them to the upper decks, with little thought of their own safety. Guarantee group Though the nine-member guarantee group were given passenger accommodation, they were also regarded as members of the crew. Headed by the ship's designer, Thomas Andrews, the group's responsibility was to accompany the ship on her maiden voyage to oversee any unfinished work or find and fix any problems that might arise during the voyage. Ship's orchestra First survivors to die *Reginald Lee – crew (lookout), of pneumonia *Annie Robinson – crew (stewardess), (aged 42) by drowning Last survivors to die *Frank Prentice – crew (storekeeper), *Sidney Daniels – crew (steward), See also *[[RMS Titanic|RMS Titanic]] *[[Passengers of the RMS Titanic|Passengers of the RMS Titanic]] References and footnotes External links *The Titanic Archive: Ship History *The Titanic Engineers, by Dr. Denis Griffiths *Identifying Stewards by Senan Molony {copyrighted} *A Last Bright Shining Lie by Senan Molony {copyrighted} *History of the Titanic *Titanic stewardesses at Millbay Docks, Plymouth England after their return on the SS Lapland(*in PDF with zoom for explosion of photos for easier viewing) *TITANIC: FROM BOILER ROOM 5 TO LIFEBOAT 13 (Kevin E. Phillips) #